City scraps plan for license plate surveillance cameras

Saturday

Nov 16, 2013 at 10:00 AM

The cameras would have captured photos of license plates to identify suspicious or stolen vehicles.

By Julian MarchJulian.March@StarNewsOnline.com

Wilmington has scrubbed plans to install surveillance cameras that capture photos of license plates to identify suspicious or stolen vehicles.The city had approval to use more than $200,000 in grant money to fund the technology, but the cameras became mired in regulatory red tape. Earlier this month, the city council canceled a $210,083 appropriation for the cameras it authorized in 2011. The money was from a grant administered by the state that was designed to support projects that enhance port security.In Wilmington, the police department planned to install cameras on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, the Isabel Holmes Bridge and the area of North College Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. Those locations were chosen because it would give officials advanced notice before a suspicious vehicle, such as one connected to a suspected terrorist, actually reached the port, said Wilmington Police Department Capt. Donny Williams.Ultimately, the project stalled because police could not get approval to install the cameras from the N.C. Department of Transportation, Williams said. The DOT controls the bridges and state roads. The DOT had too many reservations about the project to move forward, according to 2011 letter to Williams from Allen Pope, who was then the division engineer for Southeastern North Carolina. The letter outlined installation and maintenance issues as well as legal concerns.Wrightsville Beach police ran into the same problem with the DOT, said Daniel House, the town's police chief. Wrightsville Beach received similar grant funding for license plate cameras. Initially, the town wanted to mount the cameras at the bridge to scan vehicles headed in or out of town, but the DOT turned the request down.Instead, the town installed a camera on a trailer that shows drivers what speed they are going. Additionally, two police cruisers have the cameras, which have been operational for about a year, House said."We just wanted to know if there are felons coming to the beach," House said, adding that officers haven't yet caught anyone wanted using the cameras.But the cameras are not scanning every license plate – the speed sign isn't always deployed and the cameras aren't on every cruiser.